Posted by Andy on August 21, 2009
Kevin of The Great 1965 Topps Project pointed out to me that Dave Dowling made one career start and threw a complete game in that outing. Turns out that the list of players to accomplish this feat is pretty interesting:
Cnt Player Year GS CG From To Ages G SHO GF W L W-L% SV IP H R ER BB SO ERA ERA+ HR BF IBB HBP BK WP Teams
+----+-----------------+----+---+---+----+----+-----+----+---+---+---+---+-----+---+------+----+----+----+----+----+------+----+---+-----+---+---+---+---+-----------+
1 Frank Williams 1989 1 1 1984 1989 26-31 333 1 85 24 14 .632 8 471.2 418 194 157 227 314 3.00 124 23 2018 40 20 7 22 SFG-CIN-DET
2 Larry Anderson 1977 1 1 1974 1977 21-24 16 1 8 2 3 .400 0 41.1 48 28 26 22 23 5.66 68 4 191 4 0 0 11 MIL-CHW
3 Dave Dowling 1966 1 1 1964 1966 21-23 2 0 1 1 0 1.000 0 10 12 2 2 0 3 1.80 205 0 42 0 0 0 0 STL-CHC
4 Eddie O'Brien 1958 1 1 1956 1958 25-27 5 0 2 1 0 1.000 0 16.1 16 6 6 4 11 3.31 115 3 68 0 1 0 0 PIT
5 Luis Aloma 1953 1 1 1950 1953 26-29 116 1 55 18 3 .857 15 235.1 212 98 90 111 115 3.44 120 21 1001 4 2 5 CHW
6 Ray Martin 1948 1 1 1943 1948 18-23 5 0 4 1 0 1.000 0 14.2 10 4 4 6 3 2.45 154 0 59 0 0 0 BSN
7 Len Perme 1946 1 1 1942 1946 24-28 8 0 5 0 1 .000 0 17.1 11 6 6 11 6 3.12 114 0 74 1 0 0 CHW
8 Al Tate 1946 1 1 1946 1946 27-27 2 0 1 0 1 .000 0 9 8 5 5 7 2 5.00 70 0 39 0 0 0 PIT
9 Don Fisher 1945 1 1 1945 1945 29-29 2 1 1 1 0 1.000 0 18 12 4 4 7 4 2.00 196 0 74 2 0 0 NYG
10 Len Gilmore 1944 1 1 1944 1944 26-26 1 0 0 0 1 .000 0 8 13 7 7 0 0 7.88 47 2 36 0 0 0 PIT
11 Rogers McKee 1944 1 1 1943 1944 16-17 5 0 3 1 0 1.000 0 15.1 14 10 10 6 1 5.87 58 1 68 0 0 2 PHI
12 Woody Wheaton 1944 1 1 1944 1944 29-29 11 0 7 0 1 .000 0 38 36 17 15 20 15 3.55 98 1 166 1 1 1 PHA
13 John Dagenhard 1943 1 1 1943 1943 26-26 2 0 1 1 0 1.000 0 11 9 2 0 4 2 0.00 0 0 46 2 0 1 BSN
14 Jim Mains 1943 1 1 1943 1943 21-21 1 0 0 0 1 .000 0 8 9 5 5 3 4 5.62 60 0 36 0 1 0 PHA
15 Hank Leiber 1942 1 1 1942 1942 31-31 1 0 0 0 1 .000 0 9 9 9 6 5 5 6.00 56 0 42 1 0 0 NYG
16 Paul Masterson 1942 1 1 1940 1942 24-26 8 0 6 1 0 1.000 0 24.2 26 16 16 13 14 5.84 62 1 110 0 0 0 PHI
17 Steve Rachunok 1940 1 1 1940 1940 23-23 2 0 1 0 1 .000 0 10 9 5 5 5 10 4.50 89 0 43 0 0 0 BRO
These are the guys just since 1940. See the full list here.
The last guy to do it was the late Frank Williams, who also had by far the longest major-league pitching career of these guys, appearing in 332 games in relief. Williams threw a shutout that day, as did several other players on this list. (For those who don't know, Williams led a very troubled life after leaving baseball, including alcoholism and homelessness. He died earlier this year at age 50.)
Anyway, reading the full list, it seems that many of these guys appeared during war years, either in the 1940s during WWII or the 1910s during WWI.
Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »
Posted by Neil Paine on August 20, 2009
Here's a short article from Newsday's Ken Davidoff on sabermetrician Mitchel Lichtman -- or as many of you know him by, "MGL" -- and specifically his Ultimate Zone Rating defensive stat. Here's a tidbit from the piece: despite the Yankees' rave reviews, Mark Teixeira has actually been below-average at first base according to UZR. Hmm, come to think of it, this kind of gulf between perception and reality seems to happen to the Yankees a lot...
Posted in Bloops | 7 Comments »
Posted by Andy on August 20, 2009
The other day, Julio Borbon became the only player since 1954 to have 4+ stolen bases in one of his first 6 career major league games:
Cnt CarGm Player Date Tm Opp GmReslt PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS BOr Positions
+----+-----+-----------------+-------------+---+----+-------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+--+---+--+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+---------+
1 6 Julio Borbon 2009-08-15 TEX BOS W 7-2 5 5 2 4 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 1st LF
Here are all the guys in the last 10 seasons to have a game with at least 2 stolen bases among his first 6 career games:
Cnt CarGm Player Date Tm Opp GmReslt PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS BOr Positions
+----+-----+-----------------+-------------+---+----+-------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+--+---+--+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+---------+
1 6 Julio Borbon 2009-08-15 TEX BOS W 7-2 5 5 2 4 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 1st LF
2 1 Trent Oeltjen 2009-08-06 ARI @PIT W 11-6 6 6 1 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 7th LF
3 6 Fernando Martinez 2009-06-01 NYM @PIT L 5-8 5 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2nd LF
4 2 Fernando Perez 2008-09-06 TBR @TOR L 4-7 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 5th PR LF
5 5 Brian Bocock 2008-04-05 SFG @MIL L 4-5 4 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 8th SS
6 6 Cameron Maybin 2007-08-24 DET NYY W 9-6 5 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 9th LF
7 6 Freddy Guzman 2004-08-23 SDP @NYM W 9-4 6 5 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 1st CF
8 3 Ryan Freel 2001-04-06 TOR @NYY W 13-4 5 5 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 9th 2B
9 5 Rafael Furcal 2000-04-09 ATL SFG W 9-3 5 3 3 2 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 2 0 1st SS
That's a pretty mixed bunch there.
And finally, here are all the guys to have at least 4 stolen bases in a game sometime in his first 100 career games:
Cnt CarGm Player Date Tm Opp GmReslt PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS BOr Positions
+----+-----+-----------------+-------------+---+----+-------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+--+---+--+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+---------+
1 6 Julio Borbon 2009-08-15 TEX BOS W 7-2 5 5 2 4 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 1st LF
2 65 Elvis Andrus 2009-06-30 TEX LAA W 9-5 4 3 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 4 0 9th SS
3 29 Dexter Fowler 2009-04-27 COL SDP W 12-7 6 4 3 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 1st CF
4 25 Luis Matos 2000-07-30 BAL CLE W 10-7 4 4 2 2 1 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 9th CF
5 27 Chris Stynes 1996-05-12 KCR @SEA L 5-8 5 5 1 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 2nd LF
6 82 Brian Hunter 1995-09-28 HOU @CHC L 11-12 6 6 1 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 6th CF
7 47 David Hulse 1993-05-01 TEX MIL L 3-4 5 5 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 1st CF
8 38 John Jaha 1992-09-12 MIL @BAL W 5-0 4 2 1 1 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 6th 1B
9 24 Kenny Lofton 1992-04-12(1) CLE BOS W 2-1 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 1st CF
10 55 Ced Landrum 1991-10-05(2) CHC STL W 7-5 4 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 4 0 2nd CF RF LF
11 8 Alex Cole 1990-08-01 CLE KCR W 4-1 4 2 2 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 5 0 1st CF
12 32 Jerome Walton 1989-06-18 CHC @MON W 5-4 5 3 1 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 1 1st CF
13 96 Roberto Kelly 1989-05-15 NYY @CAL L 3-4 5 5 2 3 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 9th CF
14 58 Gerald Young 1987-09-14 HOU @LAD W 8-1 6 6 2 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 4 0 1st CF
15 45 Tim Raines 1981-05-08 MON SFG L 3-4 5 3 2 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 1st LF
16 30 Tim Raines 1981-04-21 MON PHI W 10-3 5 5 2 4 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 1st LF
17 38 Rudy Law 1980-05-12 LAD CHC W 2-1 4 3 1 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 4 0 2nd CF
18 52 Pat Kelly 1969-05-30(2) KCR NYY L 4-5 8 7 1 4 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 2nd CF
19 37 Wally Moon 1954-05-25 STL CHC W 9-4 5 4 2 2 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 1st CF
Wow, three guys have already done it this year and future HOFer Timmy Raines did it twice. This list is also a fairly mixed bag.
Note that the only guys to have at least 4 hits in the same game were Borbon, Gerald Young, Tim Raines on one occasion, and Pat Kelly. The only guys to have 5 stolen bases were Dexter Fowler and Alex Cole. I guess you need to have an "x" in your first name for that one.
And while this is slightly off-topic, have you noticed how bad the Red Sox defense has been against the stolen base this year? At the moment they have allowed both the most stolen bases (118) and the highest rate of success (86%) in all of baseball.
Posted in Game Finders | 6 Comments »
Posted by Neil Paine on August 19, 2009
"devil_fingers" of Driveline Mechanics has been doing a fun series called the "Lousy Lineup Optimizer", where he takes a lineup that's, well, lousy, and sees how much a shift to a more sabermetrically-sound batting order would impact their run scoring. Today he examines the San Francisco Giants, owners of an anemic .698 OPS and 4.03 R/G average, and makes some changes that could benefit the offense. The only thing missing is that he doesn't use an actual lineup simulator like the indispensible one at Baseball Musings, or the even-more-sophisticated spreadsheet that the Hardball Times released with their annual a few years back.
Posted in Bloops | 2 Comments »
Posted by Raphy on August 19, 2009
Adam LaRoche is a well traveled man. He started the season with the Pirates, was traded on July 22nd to the Red Sox and then flipped just nine days later to the Braves. Yet, through it all LaRoche has played. This season he has chalked up 108 games played and will surely participate in a significant number of the Brave's remaining 43 games. Here are all the players since 1901 to play for 3 different franchises and still play at least 130 games.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Season Finders | 2 Comments »
Posted by Raphy on August 19, 2009
Two recent blog posts ( one by Rob Neyer and one on the Replacement Level Yankees Weblog ) inspired me look closely at the depth of the Yankees' and Angels lineups. Both teams' offenses have been clicking on all cylinders this season. The Angels have averaged 5.8 runs per game and the Yankees 5.53. One striking thing about both teams' offenses is the number of players contributing. The following numbers, which are obviously DH enhanced, illustrate this fact.
The Angels currently have 9 players on pace (based on team games) for at-least 100 hits, and that doesn't include Vlad Guerrero who is sure to get there. If the Angels are successful in having 10 players with 100 hits, they will become just the second team to ever accomplish this feat. The only team in baseball history to do this was the 2004 Tigers.
Meanwhile, the Yankees have been specializing in extra-base hits. They have nine players who are pace to have at least 40 XBH. The only team ever to accomplish this feat was the 2003 Red Sox. That year, each of the Red Sox 9 actually had at least 50 hits that went for extra bases. Its safe to say that at least that mark is out of reach for the Yankees this season.
Posted in Season Finders | 3 Comments »
Posted by Andy on August 19, 2009
The Orioles traded away Aubrey Huff and then brought up Michael Aubrey to replace him. I wonder if there's any truth to the rumor that they're bringing Michael Huff out of retirement. Then maybe they can get Gene Michael to be the GM.
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Posted by Andy on August 19, 2009
Here is a list of all 128 currently acive players with at least 100 career HR. I got that list from the PI then I reordered them based on fewest plate appearances per HR (meaning that guys who hit HR more often are at the top of the list.)
Check it out:
(sorry again about the awful formatting)
PA/HR AB/HR career HR
Ryan Howard 14.23 12.13 51
Marcus Thames 16.21 14.75 128
Alex Rodriguez 16.46 14.23 2
Albert Pujols 16.51 13.98 12
Jim Thome 16.71 13.59 3
Adam Dunn 16.97 13.82 18
Manny Ramirez 17.19 14.51 4
Russell Branyan 17.36 14.94 71
Ken Griffey 17.81 15.44 1
Prince Fielder 18.07 15.37 77
Carlos Delgado 18.30 15.40 6
Richie Sexson 18.31 16.10 21
Carlos Pena 18.73 15.82 60
Mark Teixeira 19.12 16.58 42
Vlad Guerrero 19.13 17.09 9
Troy Glaus 19.21 16.35 22
David Ortiz 19.23 16.42 20
Jason Giambi 19.91 16.22 8
Andruw Jones 20.10 17.67 10
Alfonso Soriano 20.16 18.61 25
Jim Edmonds 20.18 17.31 11
Lance Berkman 20.21 16.72 19
Tony Clark 20.40 18.06 38
Travis Hafner 20.58 17.34 73
Paul Konerko 21.12 18.68 17
Miguel Cabrera 21.31 18.82 57
Adrian Gonzalez 21.40 18.86 90
Gary Sheffield 21.44 18.05 5
Jason Bay 21.46 18.23 65
Chipper Jones 21.53 18.18 7
Pat Burrell 21.87 18.44 33
Justin Morneau 21.89 19.39 70
Aramis Ramirez 21.96 19.85 34
Jermaine Dye 21.99 19.80 15
Carlos Lee 22.31 20.26 24
Tony Batista 22.44 20.67 48
Matt Stairs 22.51 19.45 35
Dan Uggla 22.64 19.63 109
Eric Chavez 23.07 20.40 44
Morgan Ensberg 23.45 20.04 113
Preston Wilson 23.47 21.18 63
Chase Utley 23.56 20.46 75
Todd Helton 23.63 19.84 16
Geoff Jenkins 23.77 21.27 47
Nick Swisher 23.79 19.88 97
Derrek Lee 23.80 20.76 28
Moises Alou 23.83 21.20 14
Joe Crede 23.94 21.99 81
Adam LaRoche 23.96 21.32 94
Matt Holliday 24.06 21.44 78
Magglio Ordonez 25.01 22.56 31
Jay Gibbons 25.08 23.03 99
Carlos Beltran 25.09 21.99 32
Hank Blalock 25.09 22.80 76
J.D. Drew 25.32 21.16 53
Torii Hunter 25.36 23.19 43
Craig Monroe 25.43 23.40 104
Brad Hawpe 25.56 22.06 124
David Wright 25.68 22.29 83
Scott Rolen 25.75 22.27 29
Cliff Floyd 26.02 22.83 41
Jorge Posada 26.28 22.33 40
Aubrey Huff 26.50 24.03 56
N Garciaparra 26.64 24.32 45
Jose Cruz 26.71 23.16 54
Vernon Wells 27.13 24.92 62
Raul Ibanez 27.28 24.65 50
Brian Giles 27.30 22.74 26
Adrian Beltre 27.35 25.00 39
Mike Sweeney 27.53 24.40 55
Grady Sizemore 27.66 23.99 92
Miguel Tejada 27.91 25.47 30
Ty Wigginton 27.93 25.39 102
Hideki Matsui 27.95 24.52 88
Mike Cameron 28.29 24.46 36
Mike Lowell 28.56 25.54 49
Bill Hall 28.90 26.24 126
Rondell White 29.56 27.06 58
Casey Blake 29.57 26.21 80
Luis Gonzalez 29.75 25.87 13
Pedro Feliz 29.84 27.87 87
Jose Guillen 29.92 27.49 59
Fernando Tatis 30.04 26.39 115
Jacque Jones 30.24 27.84 69
Dmitri Young 30.71 27.85 67
Brad Wilkerson 30.76 26.12 98
Trot Nixon 30.83 26.47 84
Jason Varitek 31.01 27.02 66
Eric Hinske 31.23 27.48 108
Garret Anderson 31.37 29.55 27
Kevin Millar 31.46 27.41 68
Ivan Rodriguez 31.71 29.61 23
Austin Kearns 31.79 27.42 123
David Dellucci 32.34 28.45 127
Eric Byrnes 32.49 29.48 120
J Encarnacion 32.66 30.03 74
Bobby Abreu 32.67 27.38 37
Milton Bradley 33.07 28.47 107
Victor Martinez 33.18 29.21 121
Ramon Hernandez 33.49 29.92 79
Rich Aurilia 33.68 30.69 64
Aaron Boone 34.25 30.62 95
Aaron Rowand 34.48 31.15 105
Brandon Inge 34.51 30.70 100
Juan Uribe 34.55 31.73 103
Bengie Molina 34.59 32.34 86
Melvin Mora 34.77 30.51 72
S Hillenbrand 35.33 33.06 117
Corey Patterson 35.99 33.47 125
Jay Payton 37.42 34.61 101
A.J. Pierzynski 41.40 38.55 112
Gary Matthews 41.89 37.28 118
Alex Gonzalez 42.43 39.02 114
Sean Casey 43.42 38.97 89
Derek Jeter 43.53 38.45 46
Michael Young 43.70 40.13 85
Ray Durham 43.87 38.58 61
Carlos Guillen 44.19 39.08 116
Jose Vidro 44.59 39.95 93
Jimmy Rollins 45.03 41.05 82
Johnny Damon 45.28 40.38 52
Ron Belliard 50.42 45.08 119
Darin Erstad 53.12 48.36 96
Shannon Stewart 53.96 48.47 106
Mark Kotsay 55.22 50.20 111
Randy Winn 61.41 55.31 122
Orlando Cabrera 64.07 58.54 110
Edgar Renteria 64.84 58.19 91
The last column is where each guy ranks among the 128 active players with 100 homers.
How crazy is it that the 128th and last guy, Thames, is second overall in fewest PA per HR?
Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments »
Posted by Neil Paine on August 18, 2009
Sam Fuld has overcome a lot to get to the big leagues -- he has Type 1 Diabetes, so he has to give himself two insulin shots a day & watch his diet just to stay healthy and be able to play. His story is also endearing to us because the Stanford alum is a stathead at heart:
"[He] didn't carry around the typical teddy bear or worn-down baby blanket when he was young. He carried a book of numbers.
'He had a baseball stats book with him all the time, like a security blanket,' said his mother, New Hampshire state senator Amanda Merrill. 'He kept the history of the game and numbers. That's what he loved.'"
Posted in Bloops | Comments Off on Bloops: Cubs OF Sam Fuld is a Stathead
Posted by Neil Paine on August 18, 2009
Have you ever played the old "6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon" game? If not, the basic premise is that any actor can be linked through his or her film roles to Kevin Bacon within six steps -- it's sort of an exercise in social network analysis for the acting community, with Bacon at the center. And why Bacon? Well, he's somewhat unique in that he takes on starring roles in some movies and small parts in a variety of other films, giving him many chances to connect with wide range of fellow actors. Hence, he's become the "center of the network", the link that connects every other part in the fewest number of steps.
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Posted in Site Features, Tutorials | 10 Comments »
